Improvement in elevators



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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, EDWARD HICKS, of North Hempstead, in the county'oi' Queens, and State of New York, have'invented certain new and useful improvements in Hay and Grain Elevators and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, and ot' their mode ormanner of operation, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,l and to the letters of reference marked thereon, and making a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention or improvement consists in a new construction and arrangement of .machines for elevating hay and grain, whereby their construction is simplified, and their action and operation vrendered more easy and certain. l

Figure l is a side view of the car when in position to take its load.

Figure 2 shows the car as it is when the load has been raised and fixed to it, and it has begun to move on the ways. v

Figure 3 is a crossvlsection of the ways, and showing how they are fastened to any building.

Figure 4 is a view of the ways as fixed in the upper part of any building.

The elevator or entire mechanism consists of a movable car with proper apparatus to raise and support the load, and ways on which the car and its load can be moved to dilerent parts of' the building. lThe car A is arranged to run upon a track or ways supported usually a little below the ridge of the barn or building in which the elevator or apparatus is placed. The ways may be made of strips of plank s e, ig. 4, two inches wide by about six inches deep, except that the planks gq upon which the car rests when receiving its load are ot' greater depth, usually about ten inches. These ways are placed live inches apart, and are supported from the ridge of the building by pieces of woodp p, figs. 3 and 4, one and a quarter inch square; and one end of such ways is placed eight inches below the ridge, and the other` end somewhat lower, so as to give an inclination of about one foot in twelve or fifteen feet, so as to assist in bringing back the car to the place of loading. The planks of which the ways are made may be fastened together by pieces of boards r r nailed on the outside oi' the planks where their ends abut against euch other. The car is a block or frame ofwood about twenty inches long by Yfour and a half wide, and tive inches high, and runs upontwo pairs of truck-wheels about four inches in diameter.

One pair, a a, of such wheels have their axle through and supported from one end of thevcar A, and the other pair, b b, have their axle supported in two broad strips or plates, h z', of iron, one on either side of the car, the ends of which plates supporting suchwheels have motion up and down on the axle of the wheels da. Such strips or pieces of iron are'broad enough and are so arranged as to extend down between the ways a couple of inches so as to keep the car upon the track. In the broader planks g g, over thev place where the hay or grain is to be elevated, which may be over the barn floor or outside of the building, the ways projecting beyond the building for such purpose, are cut or sawed notches or recesses m, into which the wheels t b drop, as shown in fig. l, when the car is moved in .position to be loaded` Such recesses thus hold fast the car while being loaded. A rope, n, to one end of which a horse may be attached to raise the hay or grain, is brought by means of a pulley-wheel to the farther end ofthe barn,rand then passes back between the ways to the pulley-wheel c fixed on the car, and then down through the car and the spool d, and around the pulloy-wlfcelf, and fastens to the car at t. The load to be elevated is connected with the pulley-wheelf by a horse hay-fork y or other arrangement. Fig. 1 shows the car readyto be loaded, and held in such position by the wheels b having dropped into the recesses m.. These recesses are cut at such an angle as to allow the wheels b to easily roll out of such recesses when the side pieces t i and the wheels bb are raised. The lower end ofthe car is prevented from dropping wholly upon Ythe ways when 'the wheels 6 b pass down into the recesses m, by means oi' a small cross-bar, 1:, of wood or metal fastened under lthe-end of the car, and projecting suiiciently far on each side of the car to rest u'pon the ways; and as the wheels b b roll out of the recesses referred to, they raise such cross-bar above thc ways, so that there shall be no sliding friction as the car is moved on the ways. As the load is drawn up to the car by the rope n, the pulley-wheelf strikes against the block gwhich is fastened to the iron pieces li z', and raises-such block and along with it-the plates h z', and also the wheels b b, until they are elevated out of the notches or recesses m, and' on a level with the top ofthe ways, so that the car can move thereon. This same operation also carries the spool d up between the block g and the brace l supported by the bolt l, and thereby fastcns the load to the car, the

block g being moved by the elevation ot' the plates h z' into the position shown in fig. 2, and the under side of the spool d being carried over the projecting end ot' the brace l', such spool being held in such position until the wheels again drop into the recesses m. The wheels Z1 b being raised out of the recesses m, the car is free to move upon the ways; and as the rope no longer passes through the pulley f, the car will move twice as fast upon the ways as it wasdrawn up. When the car has been drawn on the ways to the desired spot for depositing the.

hay or grain, the operator by a small cord trips the fork and the car'rolls hack on the inclined ways of its own gravity, or is easily drawn back by the operator; the horse turning round-and walking or trotting back for another load. When the ear comes to the other end of the ways the wheelsb b drop into the recesses m, the block g descends and takes the position shown in iig. 1, the spool d is liberated, and the fork descends by its own weight to take another load. One horse can elevate and carry a forkful of hay of two hundred pounds one hundred feet in less Vthan one minute of time.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters ratent, is-

1. The application and use of the movable side plates L i, arranged and operating substantially as and for the purposes set forth.

2. Supporting one truck the purposes set forth 3, The arrangement ofthe cro and for the purposes set forth.

4. The combination and arrangement of the pulleyfand block g or their equivalent, for elevating the bearing-wheels b b and releasing the car, operating substantially asset forth.

5, The combination and arrangement of the blockg, spool d, and supporting brace Z, or their equivalents, for

holding and releasing the fork and load, and operating substantially as set forth.

of the car so that it can rise and fall in respect to the car, substantially as and for ss-bar c or its equivalent, for supporting the end of the car, substantially as EDWARD HICKS.

Witnesses:

ISAAC HICKS, GILBERT Hrcxs. 

